Tag: Big

The Big Bang Theory constantly tests the relationships among the central core characters, but tonight’s episode featured a fracture between Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard that felt particularly infuriating—and real.

“The Tesla Recoil” began with Leonard and Howard learning about that shocking revelation that Sheldon is still working for the military, months after the three of them were fired. As it turns out, Sheldon was hired back because he came up with an idea to modify the technology into a communications system, which Colonel Williams found interesting. Instead of looping in the rest of his squad, Sheldon mostly kept quiet, planning to reap the rewards for himself. The worst part? Not only did Sheldon, Leonard, and Howard originally develop the technology as a team, but when Leonard and Howard find out about Sheldon’s betrayal, he wasn’t even remorseful. As he said, “There is no ‘i’ in team. There’s only I’m working with the military, and you’re not.”

Sure, it’s always been in Sheldon’s DNA not to put others first, but I’ve never wanted to sit in his spot on the couch and irritate the hell out of him more. (And by the way, notice there’s been zero wedding talk in the last few episodes? If I were Amy, I’d be nowhere near wanting to walk down the aisle with this self-absorbed individual.)

I’m not the only one who feels this way, as Howard and Leonard come over armed with insults (who knew that calling someone an Edison was the equivalent of being referred to as pond scum?). They tell him he’s “a bully, a credit hog, and a self-promoter.” The whole fight would be great on a reality show called The Real Scientists of Pasadena.

Of course, Sheldon’s pissed. He tells Howard and Leonard to “take that back,” but they’re not having it. Amy isn’t either, telling Sheldon that he’s building on their work and “that’s a classic Edison move.” Sheldon classically blames his mother (anyone else feel like Big Bang is trying to insert nods to Young Sheldon each episode?), who encouraged him to have friends in the first place.

But name-calling isn’t enough for Leonard and Howard, who decide the best revenge is to develop a better, more efficient system to pitch to the military, making Sheldon’s idea obsolete. They do this by recruiting their nemesis, Kripke, who later turns the tables on them to start a project of his own with their ideas. At the end of the episode, not only is Sheldon’s project canceled, but Leonard and Howard’s as well. Amy says they all acted terribly and deserved what they got, somehow still not realizing that her season 10 boyfriend has been brainwashed or kidnapped in the form of this fella from season 11. Where’s Professor Proton when you really need him?

Meanwhile, Sheldon’s not the only one trying to screw people over this episode. Ruchi—Bernadette’s co-worker and Raj’s new fling—seemed like a welcome addition to the show, until we find out that she’s attempting to steal all of Bernadette’s work projects while she’s on bed rest for her pregnancy. Of course it’s normal for anyone to want to climb the work ladder and prove your abilities, but Ruchi basically turns into a one-note villain. She tells Raj she loves getting to handle all of Bernadette’s work projects and hopes she doesn’t come back to work too soon. This is followed up by a fist bump and an invisible twirl of a mustache. Is Ruchi really that dumb that not only would she not realize this kind of behavior will come back to bite her in the ass, but to admit such things to the best friend of the woman she’s trying to take work from?

Naturally, it’s Penny (let’s keep #JusticeForPenny going you guys!) who’s the voice of reason again this episode, and she tells Raj he can’t go on sleeping with a woman who’s trying to screw over his friend. I feel like the series finale of The Big Bang Theory will end up being one big dream of Penny’s, who’s really a world-respected psychologist.

Anyway, Ruchi ends up dumping Raj, who tells Bernadette what her co-worker was up to. Bernadette scares the hell out of Raj (and me, tbh) by channeling her inner Miranda Priestly and quietly insisting that she’s going to kill Ruchi. Raj then calls out Bernadette and accuses her of probably doing the same thing if she were in that situation. Bernadette says she would never undermine a co-worker, but Raj counters her argument with an example of the time she falsely told this guy it was bring your cat to work day, except the guy didn’t know their boss was allergic to cats. “You should take a long, hard look in the mirror,” Raj says, before noting that Bernadette is a hypocrite.

The episode ends with a few light-hearted jokes to wrap up both stories as best as one can. I mean, the entire gang should be thanking their lucky stars that they have friends at all at this point. And while everyone can relate to wanting to succeed professionally, the often forgotten advice is that doing so at the expense of others will never work. If this were real life, you’d definitely lose your friends—and your reputation—with it.

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